Group buying, also called collective buying, is a business model that offers a product or service at a significantly reduced price on the condition that a minimum number of buyers commit to the purchase, with the discount only taking effect once that threshold is reached. The practice originated in China, where it is known as tuan gou, or team buying, and typically works by having customers submit payment for a deal online, with vouchers issued once enough subscribers join. It was popularized internationally by Groupon, which drew a reported 6 billion dollar acquisition offer from Google in 2011, alongside rivals such as LivingSocial and Google's own Google Offers, and by 2010 more than 1,200 group-buying sites had launched in China alone with over 500 operating worldwide.
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